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The rumors that Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black) would be replaced for New Moon, the sequel to Summit Entertainment’s Twilight, have turned out to be false. The studio and new director Chris Weitz announced today that Lautner would be reprising his role as the character:

Weitz noted there has been speculation about whether Lautner could […]

Summit Entertainment has confirmed that Chris Weitz has been hired to direct New Moon, the sequel to the studio’s highly successful film Twilight. Chris Weitz replaces Catherine Hardwicke, who Summit announced last week would not be continuing with the franchise. The announcement was made by Erik Feig, Summit’s President of Production.

Summit Entertainment has announced that Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke is leaving the franchise and will not be directing the sequel, New Moon (scheduled for release sometime between the end of 2009 and early 2010).

While the joint press release, read it in full after the jump, reveals that the decision was made due to timing issues with Hardwicke, Nikki Finke of DeadlineHollywoodDaily reports that Hardwicke was “difficult” and “irrational” during the making of the film, with one of her contacts saying:

“Summit didn’t like her. They’re saying the DP [director of photography] Elliot Davis is the one responsible for the film’s sumptuous visual look, that the editor Nancy Richardson had to save the film in post-production, and Summit thought Hardwicke’s [CAA] agent Beth Swofford was alternately ineffectual and hysterical.”

Well, that may have been all true, but I don’t see why they make the announcement now in the middle of the European press tour, a tour in which Hardwicke is–and will continue–participating in.

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Twilight stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are in store for a huge pay raise of the recently greenlit sequel New Moon. The two stars, who were each paid $2 million for the first film, will be paid $12 million each for the sequel. Looks like the budget is going to be substantially increased […]

After an impressive opening weekend for Twilight–$69.4 million–that beat industry expectations, Summit Entertainment has officially announced that they are moving forward with its sequel, New Moon. The studio may also decide to film New Moon and its sequel Eclipse back-to-back to save on costs.

It appears Summit Entertainment is in store for a very big opening weekend for Twilight, the vampire-themed film based on the best-selling book series by author Stephenie Miller. Current forecasts have pegged the film at making between $60 million to $65 million, a range that could be easily exceeded if the midnight gross is […]

The soundtrack to Twilight debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 this week, becoming the third No. 1 film soundtrack this year after Juno and Mamma Mia! According to Nielsen SoundScan, the soundtrack moved 165,000 copies in the US. 29% (48,000) of its sales were digital downloads which is the second-biggest digital week for […]

Citing after effects of the writers strike as one of the reasons, Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros. has announced that the studio has pushed back the release date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from November 21, 2008 to July 17, 2009.

“Our reasons for shifting ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last ‘Harry Potter’ film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment. Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers’ strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films—changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.”

Walt Disney Pictures’ Bolt was the first film to take advantage of the delay, moving the animated film up five days from November 26th to November 21st. Summit Pictures was quick to follow, deciding to move its heavily hyped vampire drama Twlight from December 12th to November 21st.

You’ll find the press releases from Warner Bros. and Summit Entertainment, respectively after the jump, as well as some new photos from Harry Potter 6 after the jump.